Zimbabwean security forces beat members of the opposition demonstrating in Harare.

Almost a month after Zimbabwe’s recent presidential election ended, the results still have not been released. In the meantime, a Robert Mugabe’s supporters have waged a fierce campaign of violence and intimidation against the opposition, often blaming it on the opposition themselves. There have even been rumors that the African nation is headed for civil war. The United States has been pressing Zimbabwe through diplomatic channels, and calling for its neighbors to decry the violence. Still, little seems to be happening.

Mugabe is not the type of person to let go of power without a considerable struggle. In addition to a long history of violence against political opposition, he has publicly compared himself to Adolf Hitler:

“I am still the Hitler of the time. This Hitler has only one objective, justice for his own people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people, and their right to their resources. If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold. Ten times, that is what we stand for.”

Some experts believe that Mugabe will not be prosecuted for his role in war crimes, instead living out his days in a relative degree of luxury, in exchange for releasing his grip on political power - although if he does not go soon, he risks incurring enough wrath by his opponents to make that all but impossible.

A larger question is why Mugabe feels comfortable that he can remain a despotic dictator and not have to eventually answer to the citizenry. One possibility is that the Chinese government is running around the world with a torch, glorifying the mistreatment of its own people as some sort of “unity”. All the while, they still continue to sell massacre-bound weapons to Zimbabwe. Curiously, the Chinese government’s argument of “it’s just a business transaction and nothing more” reason for a large shipment of arms strangely echoes the “it’s just a sporting event and nothing more” justification given for the holding the Olympics in a nation where most of the principles of the Olympics are banned. More than likely, China’s government doesn’t see this as anything more than a “business transaction” because for them, like Mugabe, killing citizens is business as usual.

Only the immediate future will tell if Zimbabwe’s government will really change. If so, maybe Mugabe will get acquainted with his own brand of Hitler justice, tenfold.